I've Missed You These Days
by futurestar26
Summary: Natalie runs into Henry after their breakup. Randome one-shot. Bad summary lol Please please read! T for language


**This just came into my mind. I'm doing a lot of writing lately!**

**I hope you all like this one.**

**And nope, I don't own Next to Normal. Or Starbucks.**

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As Natalie was driving to the dry cleaners, she thought about how pathetic her life was. She was thirty and single, for one thing. She got up at 5:30, went to the same coffee shop for breakfast, drove to work and got there by eight, worked until seven every night, drove home, ate a lousy dinner, and went to bed. And she did absolutely nothing on the weekends except visit her father at the nursing home.

She grabbed her suits from the backseat and went into the cleaners. She had so many clothes in her hands, she could barely open the door, and just her luck, she dropped them all on the floor as soon as she got inside.

"Shit," she muttered. As she bent down to pick them up, the man in front of her turned around and helped her. "Thanks."

"Natalie?" he said. She slowly lifted her head. Something about his curly dark hair and brown eyes were very familiar. He started grinning and immediately she recognized him.

"Oh, god," she whispered.

"It's me, Henry," he said, starting to laugh. "Wow, how are you?"

"Yeah, Henry. Um, I'm doing well." This was so awkward. She remembered their terrible break up when they were juniors in college. He wanted to marry her, she was afraid of commitment. It was horribly tearful, and Natalie couldn't help reliving it every night. Now running into him, of course, would not help. "You?"

"Oh, I'm alright," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Still single." He started laughing again, then stopped. "Oh, that was...weird. I should not have said that."

She couldn't help but smile. This was Henry. She hadn't seen him in years. "Well, hey," she said with a shrug, "I'm single too."

"Really? Still can't commit?" Natalie gave him a weird look. "Oh, sorry. Wow, what is with me today?"

"Next in line," the lady at the counter said.

"Hang on," Henry said. He turned back to the counter. "Hey, um, Henry White. I'm picking up four shirts, two pants."

"Right, right," the lady said. "Hold on." She scurried to the back of the shop.

Henry turned back around and started staring at Natalie. She was still so beautiful. Her hair was cut to her shoulders now and she definitely looked more mature, like an adult. Henry still had a goofy, boyishness about him, even at thirty years old.

"Here you go," the dry cleaner said. Henry hated having to take his eyes off Natalie, but he turned and got his clothes, then paid. He stepped out of the way so Natalie could drop off her clothes. And she did.

"Nice seeing you," she said to Henry and she started to leave.

"Hey," he said, following her out of the store. "Do you maybe want to grab some coffee or something? It's just...I mean...I haven't seen you in forever. Maybe we can catch up...?"

Natalie thought for a second. "Umm..." She had missed him. And it wasn't like she was doing anything. "Sure. I mean, yeah, I'd like that."

"Awesome," Henry said with his signature goofy grin. The same grin, Natalie noted, he had in high school. "I'll meet you at Starbucks, like, now." He started laughing and ran to his car. Natalie laughed to herself as she too went to her car.

Starbucks was just across the street, so in two minutes, she was face to face with Henry at an outside table sipping her latte.

"So where do you work?" Henry asked.

"I took over my dad's architecture business," she told him. "I run it now, you know?"

"Oh, that's cool."

"You?"

"Oh, I don't do anything special," he said. "I teach Literature and I'm the band director at the high school."

"Like, our old high school?" Natalie asked.

"Uh, yeah. Lame, I know."

"No," Natalie said quickly. "That's really great. I bet you do a great job. And the kids must love you."

"Well, I am the cool teacher," Henry said with a laugh. There was an awkward silence. "So did you ever date after me?"

"Not really," Natalie admitted. "I dated this one guy I interned with at my dad's place. He was two years older and I thought I was so cool, but he was a jerk. I've pretty much given up on men."

"Oh, so you're like...you know..."

"Oh, no," Natalie said, realizing what he meant. "No, no, no, no, no. I just...I guess I haven't found the guy for me and I'm too busy with work to really date."

"Oh," Henry said, giving her a weird look. Natalie wished she knew what he was thinking. She used to be good at that when he was her boyfriend, but now after years apart, he was some kind of mystery.

"So did you date and stuff?"

"A bit, like you. And also like you, I just didn't find the right person. Who knew it would be so hard?"

"Exactly," Natalie agreed. All of a sudden her beeper went off. "Oh, I forgot. I promised my dad I would bring him his favorite dinner tonight and I'm late." She stood up and grabbed her purse after quickly gulping down the rest of her drink. "Thanks for the coffee. It was nice to see you again."

"Yeah, same," Henry said, getting up too.

"Well, bye." She turned to go.

"Hey, wait!" Henry called. Natalie turned. "Look, I don't know what you've been doing for the past ten years, but I for one have really really missed you. Don't let this freak you out, but I'm pretty sure I still love you. Can you please promise me we can go out again? Even if it's just a friendly thing? I just can't let you walk out of my life again."

"Oh," Natalie said. "Um, yeah." She pulled her business card out of her wallet and handed it to him. "Feel free to call me anytime." She stared into his eyes. She had missed him too. So much. There wasn't a minute that went by when she didn't regret leaving him. Heck, she loved him still too. So even though she had no idea why, she pulled him into her and gave him kiss. A long, passionate kiss. When she pulled away, she smiled. "I really missed you too."

Henry looked at her, totally stupified. "Um, so yeah," he said, clearing his throat. "I will definitely call you and we can set something up."

"Absolutely," she agreed. "It's a date."

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**Awwww! LOL**

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